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Shushilkumar Shinde likely to be made the UPA Leader in Lok Sabha

P. Chidambaram likely to be Finance Minister

31-Jul-2012, 01:51
In a Cabinet reshuffle likely this weekend, P Chidambaram will be made the Finance Minister and the current Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde is likely to take over as the new Home Minister.

Shinde is also likely to be made the UPA Leader in Lok Sabha. Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath could be moved to the Power Ministry. A complete reshuffle is further expected after the monsoon session of Parliament in September.

The post of the Finance Minister was left empty after Pranab Mukherjee resigned from the post ahead of the Presidential election. While Prime Minister Manmohan Singh handled the office temporarily. P Chidambaram has been a favourite for the post.

Chidambaram has held the Finance Ministry twice. Chidambaram's appointment as the head of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on telecom is also an indication that government is willing to take on the opposition.

While Shinde is likely to be made the Leader of the Lok Sabha, in the recent past, some Congress members had written to UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi requesting that Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi be considered for the post.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had also indicated a Cabinet reshuffle in June when the UPA nominated Pranab Mukherjee for the President's post, but he was silent on the timing then. I think that's a legitimate expectation, he had told the accompanying media delegation to the G20 and Rio+20 summits to Mexico and Brazil, when asked if he wished to reshuffle his Cabinet.